Adhesive means for attaching articles together



Nov. 10, 1953 H, MAHLER 2,658,246

ADHESIVE MEANS FOR ATTACHING ARTICLES TOGETHER Filed Aug. 17, 1950 IN VEN TOR.

Harry I] MaHer BY Patented Nov. 10, 1953 ADHESIVE S FOR ATTACHINGARTICLES TOGETHER Harry H. Mahler, Brookline, Mass. Application August17, 1950, Serial No. 179,986

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to an adhesive element which is used as asubstitute for thumb tacks or the like, by means of which such things aspaper, card-board, metal, plastic, glass sheets or plates may be securedto one another or to some desired surface.

The present invention may be used in place of thumb tacks to hangcalendars or the like. notices, cards and so forth on walls and willaccomplish the same purpose as such tacks without making a hole in thesurface. It therefore has a broader use since it enables one to attach asheet to a surface which cannot be pierced by a thumb tack. As will benoted from the description in the article in the specification set forthbelow, it has many other uses and therefore provides great utility.

Without further describing the merits and advantages of the presentinvention, the invention will be described in the specification below inconnection with the drawings annexed hereto illustrating an embodimentthereof, in which:

Figure 1 shows an elevation of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a plan view looking from the side of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows in elevation a modification of the invention shown in theposition of Figure 1.

Figure 4 shows a section on the line 44 of Figure 3. s

Figure 5 shows a side elevation shown in the position of Figure 2 of astill further modification of the invention.

Figure 6 shows a still further modification of the invention.

Figure 7 shows a side elevation of Figure 6 as viewed from one sidethereof.

Figure 8 shows a still further modification of the invention, and

Figure 9 shows a section on the line 99 of Figure 8.

In the arrangement described in Figures 1 and 2, a plate I ofcard-board, plastic, fibre, metal or other composition is coated on bothsides with a synthetic plastic 2 which covers a greater portion of thesurface and which on spaced points over the surface of the plate I isprovided with hemispherical projections 3 of the same material. While itis preferable to have these projections in the shape of hemispheres,other forms of projections may be used, such for instance as cones,cylinders and polygons, the chief criterion being that the crosssectional area of the projections be substantially smaller than the areaof the plate on which they are mounted. The materials of which theprojections 3 may be made comprise the group of tacky synthetic elementswhich may be deformed slightly by pressure and which have the ability toadhere to most any surface. Such materials include synthetic plastics asfor instance polystyrene to which a plasticizer has been added, such forinstance as glycerine. Many other synthetic plastic materials when mixedwith a plasticizer will provide the same characteristic materials. Wheredesired the projections 3 may be mounted directly on the holding plate 1so that inthis case the lining surface 2 on similar plastic material maybe omitted. In the form of the invention indicated in Figures 1 and 2,the hemispherical projections 3 are mounted on both sides of the plate Iprojecting from the coating surface 2 extending over the plate. When theelements shown in Figures 1 and 2 are used, one presses the elementagainst the surface to which the sheet or plate is to be attached. Theprojections pressedagainst the surface will flatten out slightly and notonly become adhesivelyattached to the surface because of the tackyquality of the plastic material, but will also be held securely becauseof the intimate contact area which the deformed surface makes with thesurface to which it is pressed. This is partly due to the same actionperhaps which holds a vacuum cup to a surface, but perhaps is held morestrongly because the. deformed material is forced into the surfaceopenings or irregularities because of the pressure. It is for thisreason that the area of contact of the hemispheres with respect tothearea of the plate be a fraction, preferably less than one half, so thatthe ordinary pressure exerted by the thumb may be increased in thesmaller areas of contact with the surface to which the element is held.After the element has been secured to the wall or other surface to whichthe sheet is desired to be attached, the sheet is pressed against theother side of the plate bringing the sheet which is to be hung orattached in contact directly with the projecting hemispheres of theplate. The sheet may be secured to one or more such elements dependingupon its size and weight.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modification of the arrangement of Figures 1 and2. In Figures 3 and 4 the sheet or plate 5 is perforated with holes 6which are filled with suitable tacky adhesive plastic material 1 whichextend over the surface of the plate in the vicinity of the hole roundedsimilarly as a rivet. On each side of the surface of the plate 5therefore are projecting hemispherical elements 8 and 9 which may havecontours similarly as the hemispherical elements 3 of Figures 1 and 2.The hemispherical elements 8 and 9 may be distributed over the surfaceof the plate as indicated in Figure 3. The contact area of thesehemispherical elements with the surface to which they are to be attachedis to be a relatively small proportion of the whole area of the plate asin the modification of Figures 1 or 2.

In the modification indicated in Figure 5, the projections 10 from oneside of the plate may be similar to those of Figure 3 or Figure 1 andmay be directly adhered to the surface of the plate II or through acoating sheet as shown in Figure 2. The other side of the plate I I maybe coated with an adhesive tacky substance 12 which would preferablyserve to hold the attaching sheet after the element had been pressedagainst the wall or other surface against which the sheet is to besecured.

In the arrangement indicated in Figures 6 and 7, a corrugated sheet I!is provided which may be of paper, card-board, plastic or other similarsheet material having a fair degree of flexibility but deformable whenthe corrugated sheet is pressed together cross-wise of the corrugations.The corrugated sheet should preferably be formed as indicated in Figure'7 with deep U-shaped reverse corrugation elements and I5 which arefilled with plastic adhesive material 16 of a nature similar to thatused for the projecting members in the other figures. The tacky adhesivematerial between successive corrugations projects outward from theU-shaped successive sections bulging into rounded ribs or ridges ll asindicated in Figure 7. The rounded ribs I! serve in general in themanner similar to the elements of Figures 1 to 5 except that the sheetof Figure 6 is intended to be cut in desired sizes when used and thenused similarly as the elements of Figures 1 to 5 in place of thumb tacksor the like.

One of the chief merits of the elements in place of thumb tacks or othermeans of mounting that is commonly used, is that when the plate isremoved from the surface, the adhesive material that still clinks to thefinished surface may be simply polished off with a dry cloth and nomarks will be left. In this way there is no fear, as for instance, inuse of walls, doors, desks or other finished surfaces of marring thefinish in any way.

A somewhat different modification is shown in Figures 8 and 9. Here thecard 20 may be entire- 1y coated with the plastic adhesive 2| on bothfaces. The card is then stamped out to bring out spaced adhesive areas22 connected together by strip 23 which form the support for the areas.In this way the areas while held together as one unit may have pressureindependently exerted upon them when pressed to the surface to whichthey are to adhere. The connecting strips 23 will be likewise coated butby masking all but the round areas 22, these alone may be coated.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a non-piercing thumb tack comprising athin plastic plate element having smooth continuous surfaces on bothsides coated with a thin layer of solid, yielding, deformable tackyadhesive material, readily removable from surfaces with which it maycome in Contact, the adhesive on at least one of said sides being formedwith spaced areas projecting outward from the surface of said coating.

2. An article as in claim 1 in which the spaced projecting areas areformed of substantially hemispherical elements.

3. An article as in claim 2 in which the total exposed projecting areasof the hemispherical elements are less than one-half the area of saidplate.

4. As article as in claim 1 in which the spaced areas are in the form ofmounds with comparatively smaller surface areas at their exposed endsthan at their bases and are spaced over the whole surface of the plate.

HARRY H. MAHLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 276,164 Donahue Apr. 24, 1883 296,921 Bundy Apr. 15, 1884682,062 Haberstroh Sept. 3, 1901 1,694,920 Kapnek Dec. 11, 19281,944,834 Bennett Jan. 23, 1934 1,968,246 Coleman July 31, 19342,151,597 Hamilton Mar. 21, 1939 2,339,142 Bodle, et al Jan. 11, 19442,387,593 Lesser Oct. 23, 1945 2,432,987 Garner Dec. 23, 1947 2,510,120Leander June 6, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 345,066 GreatBritain Mar. 19. 1931

